The University of Idaho Argonaut

After a successful first race, the University of Idaho ski team is hoping for more recognition among the teams in it’s division and as a legitimate sport on campus.
Junior Kirsten Wick finished the first confrence race of the season with a total time of 1:40.63, leading the women to a third-place finish behind the University of British Columbia and the College of Idaho. It was Wick’s first race back on the team after a torn ACL sidelined her early in the season last year.

The men also took third in the competition behind the University of Washington and the College of Idaho. Sophomore Brett Bullard placed 5th in the race — the highest for the Idaho men with a total time of 1:42.62.
“We have a very deep team,” said team adviser Jerry McMurtry. “Depth helps within college racing because it’s a team sport, not an individual sport. This is a good team to coach. They’re fun, they try hard, they work hard and they want to learn.”
Wick said she was impressed with the team’s performance because they don’t have some of the same practice opportunities as other teams.

The group began to get back in shape a few weeks into last semester, McMurty said, but didn’t actually hit the slopes until training camp during the last week of Winter Break. The six-day camp is one of the few times the team is able to practice together.
The team doesn’t have official practice times between races because there aren’t facilities close enough to UI, Wick said.
Team members travel in a 12-year-old 12-passenger van with a U-Haul to pull their equipment, and get by on sponsorships, fundraisers and money from their own pockets.

“We’re up against these other big schools; we don’t have what they have,” she said. “It shows we can realize that we can compete at that level.”
Ski team member Chris Currie, a sophomore, said the team makes it on a “shoe-string budget” and usually have the least amount of equipment of most of the teams at races.

“I’d say the first race went pretty well,” Currie said. “We’re the team that has the most fun — we’re the team you see cooking hot dogs right on the side of the hill. We’re the most cohesive of all the teams there.”
Skiing for the university is split up into two groups — some skiers race competitively and others are a part of the ski club. But the team couldn’t function without the club, Currie said.
The club’s volunteers, who travel with the team, maintain courses, referee at the competitions, run the clock and help set up and take down tables and equipment.

“We all just love to ski,” he said. “Some people come to the ski club to fall back in love with skiing. When I came here, I really fell in love with the team and it got me back into the sport.”
The team looks to continue to improve this weekend at their race at Mt. Hood in northern Oregon. The team members will have to adjust to the soft snow at the competition, much different than the dry, cold conditions they’re used to here, Wick said.

“We have to maintain our positive attitude,” Wick said. “We want to be better known in the division. Right now, we’re just known as a tight-knit group.”
The team wants to be recognized as the legitimate contenders it is in the competition, Wick said.
“We have to prepare ski-wise,” Bullard said. “We need to tune our skis and do everything we can to make us ski better. We need to know in every single run, we’re setting ourselves up to succeed.”
Currie said the atmosphere of the team lends itself to success.
“No matter what happens, we’re just trying to be better skiers,” he said. “It’s all about the good vibes and the good skiing.”